Every Woman is Me

This poem was composed in the year 2013, after the unethical killing of Sushmita Banerjee, the inhuman rape and murder of Nirbhaya and the ruthless body shaming of Marion Bartoli. The piece was written to show solidarity with women world over and to lend my voice for the greater cause of women rights.

I had a fun day today.
A movie, some shopping and all you please,
yet my mind is just not at peace.

My heart is heavy
trepidations many.
I was shot down today
for speaking my mind.
Threatened by me
some men failed to see
my love for humanity.

Some others tore me apart
for wine or lust
(hard to say in order what)
weighed heavy.
And I paid the price
for boarding a bus
late in the night.

Humiliated in death and life
I wonder
how to survive.
For my prowess on the tennis ground
wasn’t enough
to make some proud.
They mocked at my physicality
huge and loud,
I pity him
who drops a jaw
at mortal beauty!

I’m not a Sushmita, a Nirbhaya or a Bartoli
and yet they are me
and I am thee.

A chapati maker, there’s ire and fire within me,
I do have a life beyond your judgemental shopping sprees.
Remember…
I am every woman
And every woman is me!